7. What is the role of the host country language in our school?

At IST, our students learn to appreciate and understand our host country China through a study of the Chinese language.

We celebrate China by requiring that all of our students study it, except for those who require EAP or ESL pullout.

All students should have functional Chinese. (Functional?)

The study of Chinese enables our students to be both students of and participants in the society in which they currently live.

Academic study, communication, understanding.

Respect, utilitarian, major world language.

We have much to learn from its people and past. In accessing and valuing their culture, cultural history, and interpretations of the world we need to consciously endeavor to access and learn its language.